I'm not sure how much misinformation is getting out there at the moment. I think what they have planned is something a bit different in how they handle the multiplayer part. For one, it isn't planned to be on their servers it would be between hosts if I read that correctly. They have also said that if a player wanted to play the game from start to finish without doing any multiplayer it would be an option. That even if all you wanted to do was log on(as an option) it would update cities to what other players have done to see different looks t o buildings etc.

For living world he mentions that he wants every item you see that can be used to be able to be used by the player. Back to the original ultimas it was all about scheduals and realistic movements of npcs from 6 basically on. I assume adding to the living world would be developer added content that would show up on the map as you play the game. Having an overland map makes it incredibly easy to add events as opposed to a single level map.

You mean to tell me they plan on having 5 parts to the game! omg, why would they ever want to develop the game to have a future?